Intentional | Audio Identity Blog

I have to admit I’m sometimes a snob when it comes to what to discuss here at the site: concepts like the power of music or the power of sound aren’t exactly my value-add, given that there are plenty of experts (musicians, academics, etc.) already discussing these things, and they’re usually far more articulate than me. Dabble as I may, I usually try to avoid going there.

So I write about what I know: the strategic use of sound to build brand value — the careful mapping of the what, where, when, why, how (and sometimes even the how much) companies can and should use sound to leverage the woefully untapped relationship between people and sound. Depending on the client’s situation, strategy engagements can cover brand strategy, market research, customer research/ethnography, usability testing, and plenty of workshopping. And that’s even before we get to the sound itself; unlike the sometimes spontaneous act of creating music for art’s sake, this is a matter of planning, of discovering where you want to go and charting an intentional course for getting there.

If you’re still with me, you’re of a like mind. And you may very well appreciate the value that an account planner brings to an advertisement; the value a conductor brings to a performance; or the value an architect brings to the built environment. It’s not always necessarily the difference between failure and success — but it’s often the difference between success and grand success.

I recently came across one of John Groves’ Brand Sounds podcasts, out of Hamburg, and was delightfully suprised to find that Groves is, without a doubt, of a like mind as well. I’ll stay strictly on-topic here — no chit-chat about NPR or water gurglers of the Amazon — and point you to a recent Brand Sounds vidcast in which Groves expands on the comparable relationship between “sound strategy” and architects. Enjoy — and thanks to Groves for spreading the gospel of audio identity.